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March 17, 1 F. A. M. LABBE TOBACCO-MANIPULATING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 51, 1960 F. A. M. LABBE' 3,125,099

TOBACCO-MANIPULATING MACHINES March 17, 1964 March 17, 1964 A. M. LABBE TOBACCO-MANIPULATING MACHINES Filed ma 51. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 17, 1964 F. A. M. LABBE' TOBACCO-MANIPULATING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 51. 1960 INVENTOR if" azZtJkA/Z [Mid BY a/ ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oifice 3,125,099 Patented Mar. 17., 1964 3,125,099 TOBACCO-MANIPULATING MACHINES Francis Auguste Maurice Labb, Orleans, France, assignor to Molins Machine Company Limited, Deptford, London, England, a British company Filed May 31, 196i Ser. No. 32,922 Claims priority, application Great Britain June 3, 1959 2 Claims. (Cl. 13184) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to tobacco-manipulating machines, such as continuous rod cigarette making machines, in which a continuous tobacco filler is formed and is fed lengthwise.

The invention is broadly defined as comprising a continuous rod cigarette making machine comprising, in combination, means for forming an elongated continuous tobacco filler, an elongated conveyor to convey the filler in the direction of its length, a pair of spaced, opposed, stationary side guides between which the filler is conveyed, these side guides having opposed faces shaped to provide therebetween an elongated channel of which the conveyor forms the base, the channel having a narrow part adjacent the conveyor and a wider part remote from the conveyor and beyond said narrow part, the narrow part being substantially of uniform width and progressively increasing depth in the direction of the movement of the filler, the channel having a leading end having a depth substantially less than the depth of the filler, and means to exert air pressure on the filler in the channel to urge the filler toward the conveyor and into the progressively deepening narrow part of the channel as the filler is conveyed along the channel, so that the quantity of filler confined in the narrow part of the channel is progressively increased, the channel having a trailing end having a trimming device positioned adjacent thereto and so spaced therefrom as to trim and remove surplus tobacco from the filler, the surplus tobacco extending beyond the narrow part of the channel.

Preferably the conveyor is air pervious and the means to exert air presstue on the filler comprises suction means acting to draw air through the filler and toward and through the conveyor; the opposed faces which define the narrow part of the channel may be slightly inclined with respect to the conveyor so as to converge slightly in a direction away from the conveyor.

To avoid confusion of terms, it should be noted that the depth of the filler and of the channel is measured at right-angles to the surface of the conveyor on which the filler is carried, length is measured in the direction of movement of the conveyor and filler, and width at right-angles to both length and depth.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation, partly in section of part of a continuous rod cigarette-making machine showing means whereby a continuous tobacco filler is formed and conveyed lengthwise,

FIGURES 2 and 3 are sections taken on the lines II-II and IIIIII (FIGURE 1) respectively,

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of an alternative construction, looking in the direction in which the tobacco filler is moving, and

FIGURE 5 is a view in perspective of a part of the conveyor and one side wall of the channel through which the tobacco filler is fed.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the apparatus shown forms part of a cigarette-making machine which may be in many respects similar to that disclosed in the US. patent to Labb No. 3,030,965, patented April 24, 1962. As shown in FIGURE 1 hereof, tobacco particles are impelled upwardly, as disclosed in the patent just mentioned and this need not be described here, but it will be suflicient to say that tobacco particles are impelled by a high-speed air stream through a passage 1 having end walls 2 and 3 toward a perforated conveyor band 4 on which tobacco builds up to form a filler and through which air is drawn into and through a suction chamber 5. The conveyor 4, moving in the direction indicated by the arrow, FIG- URE 1, carries the tobacco filler lengthwise on its under surface and between side guides 6, see also FIGURES 2 and 3, which guides confine the tobacco laterally.

Beyond the passage 1, that is to the left of the end wall 2, FIGURE 1, the conveyor 4 carries the filler past a trimming device which includes a pair of opposed trimming discs 7, one of which is seen in FIGURE 1. The trimming device removes surplus tobacco from the filler while the filler is still held by suction to the conveyor 4. Beyond the trimming device, the trimmed filler is transferred on to a paper web 8 carried by a tape 9, suction being cut off from the filler to permit such transfer. Details of this transfer are disclosed in the Labb patent referred to above and need not be described here.

The side guides or walls 6 have, throughout the length of the passage 1 only, the shape shown in FIGURE 2, from which it will be seen that the opposed surfaces of the guides 6 extending from the conveyor 4 are parallel for a short distance downwardly. Beyond this short distance, the guides or walls 6 curve away from each other to define, at positions 10, a channel substantially wider than the width of the conveyor. The width of this channel gradually decreases, considered in a direction away from the conveyor, to the width of the passage 1, of which it forms a continuation. 7

Beyond the passage, that is to the left of the end wall 2 as viewed in FIGURE 1, the shape of the channel alters. A relatively narrow part, defined by opposed surfaces 11 shown in FIG. 3, extending from a position adjacent the conveyor 4, and joining the parallel parts mentioned above, gradually and progressively increases in depth, by reason of the gradual increase in depth of the surfaces 11. This progressive increase in depth takes place along the channel considered in the direction of movement of the conveyor 4 therethrough. This increase in depth of the narrow part of the channel can be clearly seen in FIG- URES 1 and 5, where one of the surfaces 11 is seen to increase gradually in width, that is, to extend progressively further from the conveyor 4 along the direction of move ment of the latter, from the end of the passage 1 to a position near the trimming discs 7. It can also be seen from FIGURE 3 that the surfaces 11 are slightly inclined to the vertical and slightly converge in a downward direction, and also from FIGURES 1, 3 and 5 it can be seen that the wider part of the channel recedes gradually away from the conveyor band, from the positions 10 at the exit end of the passage 1, to the position 10a in that part of the channel at which the filler has almost reached the trimming device.

It can also be seen from FIGURE 3 that in the part of the channel which extends to the left of the passage 1 (as viewed in FIGURE 1) the opposed surfaces of the walls 6 are parallel from the parts 10 and 10a downwards and no longer converge as they do in the passage. This part of the channel as shown in the drawings is open to atmosphere.

By means of the arrangement of the side walls or guides 6 as described above, the filler built up on the conveyor 4 in the passage 1 is relatively wide, having a crosssectional shape corresponding to that of the upper part of the channel as shown in FIGURE 2. As the filler is conveyed out of the passage, however, its width is gradually and progressively reduced as it becomes confined laterally, to a progressively increasing depth, by the narrow part of the channel, defined by the surfaces 11, as the said narrow part increases in depth.

During this progressive confinement of the filler to reduce its width, the filler is controlled by the suction exerted on it through the perforated conveyor band 4. This suction opposes any tendency for the tobacco to move bodily away from the conveyor band in response to the pressure exerted on it by the opposed surfaces of the channel as the narrow part of the latter increases in extent. Consequently the gradually increasing lateral pressure on the filler by the surfaces 11 results in a lateral compacting of the tobacco rather than in bodily movement in a direction away from the conveyor band 4. The convergence of the surfaces 11 also assists in resisting any tendency for the tobacco to move downwards away from the conveyor 4.

The greatest depth to which the surfaces 11 extend is a little below the level at which the trimming discs 7 operate on the filler, so that the discs engage the filler at its narrowed part.

The arrangement described above provides a means for reducing the width of a forwardly moving filler during its forward movement by causing it to move transversely of its direction of flow from a wide section into an everdeepening narrower channel or trough. The width of this trough, however, is in the example shown, substantially uniform throughout, and the use of air pressure to urge the tobacco transversely into the ever-deepening trough ensures that the tobacco will gradually and uniformly fill this trough. The arrangement makes it possible to do this without having any convergence of the trough walls 11 towards each other, considered in the direction of movement of the filler, which latter convergence generally would have a tendency to hold up the flow of the stream, and if the convergence is too great there would be the risk of choking. The invention, therefore, by the provision of an ever-deepening narrower trough or channel and trough or channel, indicated in FIGURE 4 by the reference 26, gradually increases in depth, considered in the direction of movement of the band 23 and the filler through the trough. As seen in FIG. 4, the band 23 is adapted to move in a horizontal direction. The air drawn through the band 23 and through the tobacco filler applies a force to the tobacco to cause it to fill the narrow section as the latter increases in depth, thus reducing the crosssectional size of the filler, while at the same time increasing its density by increasing the extent to which it is laterally confined by the surfaces 25.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A continuous rod cigarette making machine comprising, in combination, means for forming an elongated continuous tobacco filler, an elongated conveyor to convey the filler in the direction of its length, a pair of spaced, opposed, stationary side guides between which the filler is conveyed, said side guides having opposed faces shaped to provide therebetween an elongated channel of which the conveyor forms the base, said channel having a narrow part adjacent the conveyor and a wider part remote from the conveyor and beyond said narrow part, said the provision of air pressure to urge the tobacco into the narrow trough, provides an effective means of reducing the cross-sectional size of the filler, and also increasing its density, without the attendant disadvantages which would otherwise be experienced if for example one tried to change the shape of a band conveying a stream of tobacco showered in the usual way.

Although in the example shown the tobacco is fed upwardly to an inverted trough it will be appreciated that the invention provides a useful way of reducing the width of a filler which has been formed in the conventional way by picking and showering by gravity.

This is illustrated in FIGURE 4, which shows a trough into which tobacco is showered in conventional manner between chute walls 21, the trough having curved walls 22 converging towards a perforated conveyor band 23 beneath which is a suction chamber 24. The part of the trough into which tobacco is showered is of uniform and relatively wide cross-section along the whole of its length, being bounded by the curved Walls 22, so that the showered tobacco forms a relatively wide filler be- I tween the walls 22.

Beyond the part into which the tobacco is showered, a

narrow part being substantially of uniform width and progressively increasing depth in the direction of the movement of the filler said channel having a leading end having a depth substantially less than the depth of the filler, means to exert air pressure on the filler in said channel to urge the filler toward the conveyor and into the progressively deepening narrow part of said channel as the filler is conveyed along the channel, so that the quantity of filler confined in the narrow part of the channel is progressively increased said channel having a trailing end and a trimming device positioned adjacent said trailing end and so spaced therefrom as to trim and remove surplus tobacco from said filler, said surplus tobacco extending beyond the narrow part of said channel.

2. A continuous rod cigarette making machine as claimed in claim 1 in which (a) said conveyor is air pervious and in which said means to exert air pressure on the filler comprises suction means acting to draw air through said filler and toward and through said conveyor, and in which (b) the opposed faces which define the narrow part of said channel are slightly inclined with respect to the conveyor so as to converge slightly in a direction away from the conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 231,947 Allison Sept. 7, 1880 649,897 Bergstraesser May 22, 1900 1,723,942 Koerner Aug. 6, 1929 1,808,794 Stelzer June 9, 1931 1,879,016 Austin Sept. 27, 1932 2,432,938 Ruau Dec. 16, 1947 2,660,177 Rault Nov. 24, 1953 2,660,178 Rault Nov. 24, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 351,936 Germany Apr. 19, 1922 764,551 Great Britain Dec. 28, 1956 

1. A CONTINUOUS ROD CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, MEANS FOR FORMING AN ELONGATED CONTINUOUS TOBACCO FILLER, AN ELONGATED CONVEYOR TO CONVEY THE FILLER IN THE DIRECTION OF ITS LENGTH, A PAIR OF SPACED, OPPOSED, STATIONARY SIDE GUIDES BETWEEN WHICH THE FILLER IS CONVEYED, SAID SIDE GUIDES HAVING OPPOSED FACES SHAPED TO PROVIDE THEREBETWEEN AN ELONGATED CHANNEL OF WHICH THE CONVEYOR FORMS THE BASE, SAID CHANNEL HAVING A NARROW PART ADJACENT THE CONVEYOR AND A WIDER PART REMOTE FROM THE CONVEYOR AND BEYOND SAID NARROW PART, SAID NARROW PART BEING SUBSTANTIALLY OF UNIFORM WIDTH AND PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING DEPTH IN THE DIRECTION OF THE MOVEMENT OF THE FILLER SAID CHANNEL HAVING A LEADING END HAVING A DEPTH SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE DEPTH OF THE FILLER, MEANS TO EXERT AIR PRESSURE ON THE FILLER IN SAID CHANNEL TO URGE THE FILLER TOWARD THE CONVEYOR AND INTO THE PROGRESSIVELY DEEPENING NARROW PART OF SAID CHANNEL AS THE FILLER IS CONVEYED ALONG THE CHANNEL, SO THAT THE QUANTITY OF FILLER CONFINED IN THE NARROW PART OF THE CHANNEL IS PROGRESSIVELY INCREASED SAID CHANNEL HAVING A TRAILING END AND A TRIMMING DEVICE POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID TRAILING END AND SO SPACED THEREFROM AS TO TRIM AND REMOVE SURPLUS TOBACCO FROM SAID FILLER, SAID SURPLUS TOBACCO EXTENDING BEYOND THE NARROW PART OF SAID CHANNEL. 